A string of schemes have been launched to divert spray-painters from daubing illegally.

Newcastle City Council recruited graffiti coordinator Reuven Fletcher to build bridges with the graffiti-writing community.

He arranged for places to be set aside for murals to be painted legally in a bid to stop vandals tagging spaces of their choice. Two giant boards painted and displayed at Chillingham Road Metro Station led to a drop in the amount of fresh graffiti at the site.

But other schemes attracted more controversy. A plan to allocate a space of wall next to the Laing Art Gallery was shelved. And opponents reacted angrily after it emerged artists were bidding to paint sections of the Redheugh Bridge. In March there was a row over the council's decision to employ a group of spray-painters to run workshops for teenagers.